IRVINE, Calif. – No. 14 UC Irvine pushed No. 10 USC to a fifth set, but lost 3-2 (27-29, 32-30, 13-25, 25-22, 10-15) at the Bren Events Center Friday.

After hitting a season-low Wednesday night against the USC, UCI hit .336 (64-20-131), the second highest mark of the year. Four Anteaters recorded double-figure kills offensively and defensively, UCI out-blocked the Trojans, 11-5. Six different Anteaters contributed a block assist.

The Anteaters (3-5) had a season-high 25 service errors, including three in the final set

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Outside hitter Francesco Sani had a team-high 19 kills, career-high six total blocks, tied his career-high with six digs and fired two aces
>Opposite Hilir Henno collected 18 kills and three aces
>outside hitter Cole Gillis had a season-high 11 kills plus six digs, while middle blocker Conner Campbell had a career-high 11 kills, hitting .733 (11-0-15). Campbell also matched Sani with a team-high six total blocks
>Libero Cole Power topped the squad with seven digs
>Setters Patrick Vorenkamp and Dylan Zhai had 37 and 14 set assists, respectively

HEAD COACH DAVID KNIFFIN SAID
"We are a young team growing up. You have to love this opportunity early in January. We love that we get to play a seasoned team that passes the ball and puts a ton of pressure on us. They ultimately played cleaner down the stretch. Love the fight, love the composure."

FIRST SET
>Francesco Sani was hot from the service line, recording two aces as UCI jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead
>Back-to-back Trojans attack errors gave UCI a 19-14 lead and forced a USC timeout
>Out of the break, USC answered with a trio of kills, the last two by Sam Kobrine, 19-17
>A 5-1 USC run, which included four UCI errors gave the Trojans their first lead, 23-22
>With USC holding set point, UCI had a kill by Hilir Henno and a block by Doug Dahm and Sani giving the Anteaters set point 25-24
>The Anteaters let a ball drop to the floor and couldn't handle a Trojan serve to give the advantage back to USC, 26-25
>A kill by Simon Gallas was followed by one by Sam Kobrine to take the 29-27 come-from-behind victory

SECOND SET
>UCI was quick out of the gate once again, using a Campbell kill off a joust popped up by Patrick Vorenkamp, 3-1
>A kill by Cole Gillis was followed by a cut shot by Henno, 7-5
>Another Sani kill and a block by Sani and Connor Campbell increased the margin to 9-6
>The Trojans answered with the next three points, 9-9
>UCI didn't waste any time regaining the lead on a Sani kill and an ace by Henno, 11-9
>UCI led 15-13 at the media timeout, before committing two errors to knot the score, 15-15
>A powerful kill by Campbell in the middle plus a huge block by Campbell and Vorenkamp, 18-16
>USC quickly tied it at 18-18 and the teams would trade points until the Trojans would have a kill, an ace
and a block to take control, 24-22
>The Anteaters weren't done, a kill by Sani and two by Henno switched the momentum, 25-24
>A USC kill and an Anteater error deadlocked the teams once again, 26-26
>A kill by Gallas after hustle plays by the USC defense and a block moved USC back in front, 28-27
>A kill by Sani kept UCI alive, 28-28
 >After the teams traded service errors, a kill by Gillis gave the Anteaters a 30-29 lead
>UCI had a service error before a Trojans service error and kill by Henno finally ended the set, 32-30
>A well-played set, saw the Anteaters hit .457 (21-5-35) and Trojans .419 (16-3-31)

THIRD SET
>USC started with a 7-3 lead
>UCI chipped away and on the strength of a consecutive solo and block assist by Sani, UCI crept to 7-8
>USC scored the next six, two on aces by Gallas and three on UCI errors, 14-7
>The Trojans would roll to a 25-13 win
>USC out-hit UCI, .588-.105

FOURTH SET
>USC held the early lead until back-to-back kills by Gillis tied the set at 4-4
>A 7-1 run by the Anteaters, four consecutive on kills by Henno (2), Campbell and Sani, 12-10
>A block by Campbell and Sani, setter Dylan Zhai getting up high and slamming the ball for a kill, and a USC attack error moved the UCI lead to 15-12
>The Anteaters held steady with the lead and Trojans went in to the net on a free ball to give UCI set point, 24-21
>A USC service error handed UCI the set 25-22

FIFTH SET
>A pair of UCI attack errors started the set
>USC would never trail or be tied, watching UCI battle within 8-6 on a block by Dahm and Gillis
>A pair of USC kills stretched the lead to 13-9
>A block by Campbell and Sani followed on the next play, but a UCI service and attack error ended the set, 15-10 and the match, 3-2

NOTES
>UCI had four players in double-figure kills for the first time this season
>UCI is 0-3 in five set matches in 2022
> UCI hit .443 over the first two sets then were .243 in the final three

UP NEXT
UCI entertains another former MPSF rival, UCLA, Friday (Feb. 4) at 7:00 p.m. at the Bren Events Center.